A survey from Mortgage Choice found the pandemic has caused young people to shift focus to their financial goals, with many feeling more optimistic about home ownership.
The survey found saving money was now the highest priority for young people, with over 60% reducing their spending to buy a home sooner.
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Additionally, almost 60% of respondents were adding more money to their savings account and over 40% were applying for government grants for first home buyers.
Susan Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer at Mortgage Choice, said COVID had given everyone a wake up call, which for young people meant evaluating their financial goals.
“Despite the challenges of getting into the property market, young people are not giving up on the great Australian dream," Ms Mitchell said.
"In times of uncertainty, it is human nature to want stability, and this is what investing in property can provide.
“The fact that first home buyers can now access the most competitive home loan rates on record and unprecedented levels of government support such as grants and schemes provides compelling incentives to act on property ownership dreams.”
The survey found 85% of respondents had changed their saving and spending behaviour since the pandemic, with 70% planning to maintain these habits.
Although keen on buying property, many young Australians found the process to be complicated.
Almost a third of first home buyers had minimal confidence in understanding and choosing home loan features, while 10% were not confident at all.
'Rainy day' fund takes highest priority
Over half of Australians said COVID had forced them to change their 2021 financial goals compared to previous years, a survey from ME Bank revealed.
Building up a 'rainy day' savings was the most listed financial goal and listed as the number one in terms of importance.
Other popular goals included saving for a holiday, car, or other expense, saving enough to buy a property to live in, cutting back on expenses, and building wealth for retirement.
According to the study, 66% of Australians said the pandemic had enlightened them as to the importance of having a 'rainy day' fund.
ME’s General Manager Personal Banking Claudio Mazzarella said the survey was encouraging, given a recent ME Bank survey's findings that 21% of households had less than $1,000 in savings.
“In uncertain times it pays to focus on what you can control. Growing a stash of emergency money can be good for your bank balance – and your peace of mind," Ms Mazzarella said.
The biggest barriers in the way of Australians reaching their 2021 financial goals were reported to be ‘inadequate incomes’ (41%) ‘expenses’ (37%), and the ‘impact of COVID-19’ (28%).
Overall, the minority of respondents (29%) said they were ‘very likely’ to achieve their goals in 2021, indicating a general lack of confidence in attaining them.
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